Sebastian Errazuriz... said, he concealed [the wine] in a cooler and took it into a church, where it was "inadvertently blessed by the priest while turning wine into the blood of Christ during the Eucharist."

His wine was "inadvertently blessed by the priest while turning wine into the blood of Christ during the Eucharist."? How could that have happened, unless his wine is really stolen Eucharistic wine. Very offensive, if so.

The artist has religious friends and family and "respects their views."

No, he doesn't. Raised a Catholic, he knows how the faithful view the consecrated wine, and it's not something you freeze on a popsicle stick and hand out to 100 random people who are pretty much guaranteed to be out of communion with the Catholic Church.

His wine was "inadvertently blessed by the priest while turning wine into the blood of Christ during the Eucharist."? How could that have happened, unless his wine is really stolen Eucharistic wine. Very offensive, if so

Offensive, yes, but not for that reason. Even if it was stolen wine, it would not be consecrated or otherwise transubstantiated merely by being in the same church or merely by being in close proximity to the altar while a priest is engaged in the eucharistic celebration.

Very typically, only a portion of the wine that is officially brought up to the altar for the consecration is poured into the chalice. The remainder is taken and placed on a side table or other similar place.

The only wine that is transformed is that which the celebrant priest intends to consecrate. Thus, the wine that is set aside by the priest is not consecrated, it does not become the Precious Blood. Even if the wine that has been set aside is left on the altar, it is not consecrated unless it is the intention of the celebrant to do so (although such a practice is discouraged to avoid confusion by the faithful who are present).

So even less so would some wine surrupticiously brought into a church become consecrated.

Somehow, I doubt this guy ever made it to the altar boy stage to know of what you speak.

I'm just cracking up about this loon thinking he's got a transubstantiated popsicle. I can only imagine the chaos that would have ensued had any one of us in Catholic school asked Msg Horgan to transubstantiate a popsicle.

I'm trying to form a joke with the words "epiclesis" and "a quiescently frozen treat" in it, but I admit it, it's beyond my ken!

Thus, this would NOT constitute desecration of the Eucharist, but it would constitute sacrilege and blasphemy.

But it is interesting how, for being nonbelievers, so many militant anti-theists are so obsessed with committing such acts.

The Act-Up and Rainbow Sash crowds used to do such things, including going up to Communion and pocketing the Host to later do some nefarious action with it. I fully expect such militant gay activism to return over "same-sex marriage."

But they cannot harm Jesus or the Church in any manner by such acts. The biggest injury from desecration of the Eucharist (or sacrilege or blasphemy) is to the person who engages in it. HE is the one who is harmed.

There are a lot of assholes in America. As long as he isn't being publicly funded, I'm not inclined to pay this one much attention.

I didn't look at the comments on that particular CNN article, but I've been surprised generally that CNN has the most aggressively stupid, narrow-minded, ugly, partisan (mostly from the left, but many stupid ones from the right) comments section I see on the web. I would have expected that some of the explicitly ideological sites that I visit would attract more of the sort of comment that displays a lack of interaction with people from the other side, but for some reason, none of the partisan websites I visit that have comment sections come close to CNN in vileness. My only guess is that the other sites I visit probably cater to a smarter, more thoughtful crowd, whereas CNN draws more broadly, but I'm not particularly sold on that explanation.

Instead of a cross, the popsicle stick could be in the shape of a pogo stick. Or the popsicle stick could be two crutches. Wine is not that great a popsicle flavor, I don't think, although sangria is. Sangria, ha! Pump up the flavors and avoid large ice crystals with fruit and spices and whatnot. Go ahead and suck it in remembrance of Him but do not presume the wine to have changed much except having become a lot colder, although you could claim preparation in a kosher kitchen.

That artists who make "statements" about what their work means or what it is intended to do can usually be ignored.

Also that art-related stories in the tabloid press and on TV news generally aren't worth reading because the "artwork" that is the subject of such stories is usually inconsequential, épater la bourgeoisie, sophomore-level twaddle.

And further, that the sort of people who get a rise, both positive and negative, out of this sort of reheated-leftover-frozen-dinner shtick can safely be ignored as well.

When we were getting ready for our first communion the nun told us this story.

There was a young boy who wasn't sure the host wafer was truly the body and blood of Jesus. So, he wrapped the host in his handkerchief and took it home. He went to the kitchen, took out a knife and cut it open; it began to bleed. His mom called The priest but when he got to the house it was apparent this was something the bishop needed to handle. The bishop came and had to soak up the blood which was all over the kitchen counter and drink every drop.